First Lines Challenge: Day 21

It slithered toward the couch as I waited in anticipation with my cane.


Practice the power of opening lines. Take the 30 Day First Lines Challenge.

First Lines Challenge: Day 20

 Sirens sounded all around our small cubby, their lights flashing through crack after crack.

Roadside

Cracked rearview, busted taillight,
Full tank useless against the closing twilight.
Parallel orbs cut through the darkness,
growing, approaching, dancing right by,
the sway of their wake jarring, cutting like a knife.

A shaking hand drifts toward that precious metal piece,
pushing, turning, loosening with each click,
the sound deafening in silent space,
yet unable to spark life to drown the hopeless cry.

The mechanical maze awes and baffles.
Puzzles and pathways,
roadblocks and riddles,
deflation.
No miracle nor savior,
self reliance under the hood.

Black and bleak against another fading hour,
Finally!
A sight!
A light!
A guide toward the coming dawn.

Rough capable hands tug, twist, and turn.
Wide eyes darting left and right,
eager to remember and learn.
Green light.

Spark, ignite, hum to life,
and glide home in the rising sun.

First Lines Challenge: Day 19

My eyes grew heavier with each rocky bump, the lump in my throat dissolving.


Practice the power of opening lines. Take the 30 Day First Lines Challenge.

First Lines Challenge: Day 18

She ran harder as the landscape blurred, undeterred by the sticks and stones tearing at her feet.


Practice the power of opening lines. Take the 30 Day First Lines Challenge.

First Lines Challenge: Day 17

I apologize in advance for what you're about to hear.


Practice the power of opening lines. Take the 30 Day First Lines Challenge.

First Lines Challenge: Day 16

I suspect she ran him down.


Practice the power of opening lines. Take the 30 Day First Lines Challenge.

James Scott Bell: "You do that . . . you become what's called a prolific writer"

Bestselling author James Scott Bell shares the best writing advice he knows: set a quota of words to write daily or weekly.



What's your quota? How often do you write?

First Lines Challenge: Day 15

Drizzle puddled in her long mahogany locks, chilling her exposed skin as she waited his next move.


Practice the power of opening lines. Take the 30 Day First Lines Challenge.